


Twice as Strange

by Strangexunusual



Category: Addams Family - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King, The Addams Family (Movies - Sonnenfeld)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/F, First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strangexunusual/pseuds/Strangexunusual
Summary: Lydia wasn't expecting to meet another girl quite as strange as she was. Nor was she expecting to start taking notice that she was starting to develop feelings for her.
Relationships: Wednesday Addams/Lydia Deetz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	1. That Other Strange Girl

Lydia stumbled through the forest. At least this one was just as creepy and spooky as any average forest she’d gone through. Betelgeuse was just up ahead, but she couldn’t find the demon anywhere. It was like he disappeared into the trees.

Typical Betelgeuse.

In the distance, she could hear the sounds of singing and clapping. But decided to not think anything of it as she needed to find Betelgeuse and get back home before it was evening time. She was glad it was the summertime, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to do something as fun as this. A nice walk through a creepy forest to clear her mind before heading home again. She wasn’t quite sure why Betelgeuse had intended on coming along with her when he said he was going to spend the evening and most likely the night with the Maitlands. 

“BEEJ? WHEREVER YOU ARE, I CAN’T SEE YOU! I’M GOING BACK HOME WITHOUT YOU IF YOU REMAIN HIDDEN!” she shouted up into the trees in hopes of getting him to come out from his current hiding place. No such luck. 

She sighed then returned her attention to the stretch of forest ahead of her, noting the girl sitting on top of a big rock in the middle of the forest and kicking at other, smaller rocks and stones. She hadn’t noticed that girl before and she wasn’t there before Lydia had turned her attention away from that particular stretch of forest to call out to her still-disappeared best demon friend. Maybe she just got there. 

It was clear the other, strange girl had noticed that Lydia was standing there and looking in her direction since she had stopped kicking at rocks and stones and was looking back over towards her. 

“Hi...” she said, playing with one of her braids.

Lydia made her way over towards the other girl and sat down in front of her. The other girl turned and looked down towards Lydia again. “Hi,” said Lydia, hoping to start up on a nice conversation. This other girl seemed to be as strange and unusual as she was. A hopeful new friend. 

“What brings you to this particular forest?” the strange girl asked, now looking down towards the ground and playing with her fingers.

“Oh, I live in a house on a hill on the other side of this forest,” said Lydia. “I usually come out here and walk to clear my head every evening. What brings you here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before, uh?”

“Wednesday.” 

“Wednesday,” repeated Lydia, holding out a hand for Wednesday to shake. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Lydia.” 

“Nice to meet you too, Lydia.”

“Anyway, like I said,” said Lydia. “What brings you here?”

“Summer camp. Very boring here,” said Wednesday glancing at Lydia. “I wish I was back home with my family. All I think about is how much I want to play games with my brother right now. But I have to be here.” 

“I agree that summer camp isn’t all that fun,” said Lydia, stifling a laugh. 

“What brings you here?” 

“Like I said, I’m taking an evening stroll. But I seem to have lost my best friend. You seen him anywhere?” asked Lydia, looking around for signs of Betelgeuse.

“Isn’t that him up there?” asked Wednesday, looking upwards and pointing when she heard a snicker come from the treetops above her. Lydia glanced up towards where Wednesday was pointing, rolled her eyes, and sighed.

Again, typical Betelgeuse.

“Betelgeuse, have you been hiding in that particular tree the whole entire time?” laughed Lydia. 

He teleported out of the tree and reappeared beside both girls. “No. I’ve been teleporting from treetop to treetop, Scarecrow. Been having trouble finding the right hiding place to mess with ya.” 

“Beej, I think it’s time we went home. My dad, Delia, and the Maitlands all told us both to be back by eight.” Lydia began to head off in the opposite direction and Betelgeuse floated above her, pouting and folding his arms. Lydia turned and called out to Wednesday, “It was nice meeting you! I hope to see you again some other time!”

Wednesday waved goodbye to both her and Betelgeuse and headed off back to summer camp. 

Betelgeuse teleported next to Lydia and elbowed her. “Who’s your new friend?”

“That’s Wednesday. She’s super cool.”

“Sounds like you have a crush on her,” Betelgeuse teased. 

“I do not!” grumped Lydia, folding her arms. “Cut it out, Beej.”

He would not. In fact, he decided to tease her about it the whole way home. And in no way was she happy about it.


	2. It’s Not a Crush, Is It?

When Lydia got home, it was a quarter after eight. Leave it to Betelgeuse to go right back to hiding in the treetops as they exited the forest. Literally the only way Lydia could get him to stop with that was telling him that the Maitlands didn’t want to be with him anymore. He had teleported down from one of the tallest trees in the forest with his hair blazing a shade of reddish orange, only for it to revert back to green when he found his best living friend laying on her back on the ground and laughing her head off.

“That was not funny,” he had said in a deadpan voice. 

Lydia had rolled her eyes and continued on with the disgruntled demon floating behind her, his arms folded. Lydia’s definitely not going to stop with the endless teasing me about my crush on the Maitlands!

Lydia had set her foot on the bottom step when Betelgeuse teleported in front of her and phased through the door. Lydia opened the door (thankful that it was unlocked) and headed inside. Immediately after stepping foot inside the house, she was bombarded with questions from the Maitlands. 

“Lydia? It’s after eight. You said you weren’t going to be gone long.”

“Lydia, what happened?”

Lydia held up a hand and the Maitlands fell silent, giving her an opportunity to speak. “Well, Beej decided to play a game of hide and seek with me and hid in the treetops. Then I met this spooky and creepy girl in the woods.” Lydia didn’t notice, but she started blushing the moment she spoke that last sentence. The Maitlands didn’t seem to notice either, which was good.

“Spooky and creepy girl?” questioned Adam. “I don’t like the sound of that.” 

“Nono.” Lydia suppressed a laugh as she and the Maitlands went into the kitchen. “She’s nice. Spooky and creepy but nice. And she’s a goth like me.” 

Barbara set a steaming cup of tea and a couple cookies down in front of Lydia as she sat down at the counter. Both ghosts sat down at the counter, interested in hearing more about this girl. 

“What’s her name?” asked Barbara, glancing to Adam then back to Lydia. 

“Wednesday,” said Lydia. “There’s a summer camp not too far from here that she says she’s at. She didn’t say for how long though.” 

“I first met Barbara at summer camp,” Adam said, recalling a story. “It was a couple years before we started datin-.”

“Adam, maybe we can tell her that story some other time,” Barbara calmly reminded her husband. “Right now, we should let Lydia tell us more about this Wednesday girl.” She turned her attention back over towards Lydia and gestured for her to continue.

“Anyways, she and I spoke for a while before Beej and I had come back here,” finished up Lydia, her blushing becoming clear to the Maitlands. They looked at each other knowingly then glanced at Lydia with soft looks in their eyes. “What?”

“Lydia... you sure you don’t have a crush on Wednesday?” Adam had to ask, causing Lydia to go wide-eyed as she shook her head.

“WHAT?! No... no I don’t. I just met her,” stammered Lydia, slamming her hands on the counter. She began to blush a bit more.

“Lyd, you’re blushing. I think it’s kind of obvious,” said Barbara, covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a laugh. “Back when Adam and I were alive and in our teens, I would blush anytime Adam passed by me and said something as simple as ‘hi’ to me. This started after we met at summer camp.”

“Okay, maybe I do,” Lydia said after a few minutes of silence. “But I don’t want her to know quite yet.” Finishing up the last of her tea, Lydia carried her empty cup over to the sink and set it down before heading upstairs. “Adam, Barb!” she called out to the Maitlands, stopping halfway up the stairs. “I’ll see you guys in the morning. And tell my dad and Delia that I said goodnight.”

“WILL DO! NIGHT, LYDIA!” the Maitlands shouted back in unison.

Half an hour later, Lydia lay on her stomach on her bed, scrolling through her phone. She had tried to keep her mind off of Wednesday for the time being but every time she did, the memory of her meeting Wednesday would pop back into her head. Betelgeuse teleported into her room and sat himself down in the teenager’s desk chair, rolling it over towards her bed.

“Hiya, Beej,” said Lydia, not looking up from her phone.

Betelgeuse, who was planning to prank Lydia by scaring her, dropped the act. “Scarecrow, you still thinking about Wednesday and your crush on her?”

“Thank you for putting that thought back in my mind,” Lydia said a bit sarcastically, which Betelgeuse didn’t seem to catch. “Just when I started thinking about something else.”

“What? Your potential future life with Wednesday. A future where you’re married???” teased Betelgeuse in a sing-song voice. Lydia groaned and put her phone down to glare furiously at her best friend. 

“Beej, look: the Maitlands just think I have a crush on her. Nothing else. I only just met her and we’re teens. I haven’t thought that far ahead and who knows... things could turn out different... I just gotta wait and see what happens.”

Lydia glanced up at the ceiling of her bedroom then clambered into bed as Betelgeuse left to spend time with the Maitlands. Whatever the universe had in store for her, Lydia knew fate was going to get her and Wednesday together. Were Betelgeuse and the Maitlands right? Was this really a crush?


	3. Sneaking Out is a Bad Idea

“Lydia! Lydia! Lydia!” said Betelgeuse, shaking the sleeping teenager awake in the middle of the night. If she wasn’t in the middle of a pleasant dream, she would have woken up almost immediately but she was smiling and having a dream where her mom was alive and well. “L-ydiaaaaa!” Betelgeuse moaned, throwing his voice around the room in a second attempt to wake her up. 

“I’m up, bud. I’m up.” Lydia sat up in bed, a little upset to have been woken up in the middle of a pleasant dream but curious as to what her best demon friend wanted. As soon as she climbed out of bed, Betelgeuse snapped his fingers and the teenager’s everyday clothing appeared on her body. “If you want me to go outside in the middle of the night, it’s a bad idea. I need some sleep. I’mma wait till morning.” 

Betelgeuse teleported Lydia onto her bed and summoned the backpack, now empty, that the teen used for school. Lydia knew she had no choice now. It was dark, yes, and she loved all things dark. So, why not. Opening the backpack, she put everything Betelgeuse had summoned into it.

“Food, water, a map, clothes, compass, all that’s left is a flashlight,” said Lydia with a look of determination, looking around and finding it. 

She was about to put the said flashlight in the bag when Barbara coughing quietly distracted her. Turning her head to both ghosts, Lydia sheepishly grinned at them.

“And where do you think you’re going at this hour, Lydia?” Barbara asked in a serious yet playful tone of voice, raising an eyebrow. “Weren’t you supposed to be in bed an hour and a half ago?” 

“I was in bed,” replied Lydia, rolling her eyes. “But then Beej woke me up. Said that it was completely necessary for me to see Wednesday.”

“It’s the middle of the night, honey. You can see Wednesday in the morning if it’s alright with your dad and Delia.” Barbara sat down on the bed next to Lydia and rested an arm around her shoulder, a gentle smile on her face. Lydia sighed and looked down at her bedroom floor before returning her attention to Barbara. Maybe she was right, maybe Lydia really should wait until morning. 

“Yeah, maybe I should wait until morning.” Lydia turned to look over towards her pouting best demon friend, a look that meant ‘let’s totally go out and explore the dark and creepy woods a little more when Adam and Barbara leave to go back up to the attic, which he saw and the Maitlands didn’t. “Sorry, Beej.”

Barbara snapped her fingers and Lydia’s pajamas appeared on her body as the teenager was teleported into her bed. She closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep, not wanting the Maitlands to know what she and Betelgeuse were totally planning on doing. Both Adam and Barbara hugged the teenager goodnight and left the room. Once they were certain both ghosts were in the attic, Lydia climbed out of bed again and Betelgeuse snapped his fingers to dress her in her everyday clothes. Turning towards Lydia’s bedroom window, Betelgeuse snapped his fingers again and opened it. Lydia climbed out of it and onto the roof.

Soon after, Betelgeuse teleported out onto the roof and teleported the two of them down into the forest.

Little did they know, Adam and Barbara, who were sitting outside on the roof and stargazing together, happened to look down just in time to see what Lydia and Betelgeuse were doing at the moment.

Looking at each other, the words, ‘she’s definitely in trouble now,’ rang through their minds.


	4. A Little Get to Know Me

"Beej!!! Ugh! Don't tell me you decided to hide in the treetops again?" grumbled Lydia as she looked around for signs of her best demon friend. She just wanted to see if she could talk to Wednesday again and all Betelgeuse seemed to be doing at that very moment was hiding somewhere in the forest. "Betelgeuse?!" 

She sat on a rock, ready to give up on looking for him when he made himself visible on top of a tree branch of one of the tallest trees in the forest. Lydia looked up at him, rolled her eyes, and let out a sigh. 

"How long have you made yourself invisible to me, bud?" she asked, though she was sure she knew the answer to her question.

"Just long enough to trick you into thinking I was hiding in plain sight again," Betelgeuse immediately replied in a teasing tone of voice. He let out a laugh and Lydia just glared daggers at him.

"Do you want me to stab you for old time's sake?!" the teenager hissed in pure rage as she stomped her foot. "Cause I'm going to do it!" 

"One time's enough..." Betelgeuse held his hands up in front of him and backed away from the infuriated teen. "Definitely not an experience I would want to go through again. I learned my lesson the last time you did it." 

Lydia held up a stick and Betelgeuse evaporated it immediately with his mind. "Don't do it again, then."

"Don't do what?" a sly smile was plastered on Betelgeuse's face. Now he wanted to play dumb with her? 

"BETELGEUSE, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!" Lydia shouted, her voice echoing through the trees. She covered her mouth with her hands and let out a calming deep breath. "Sorry I yelled." 

Betelgeuse nodded in response. Footsteps in the distance grabbed the attention of the two friends and they looked in the direction of the sound to find Wednesday looking at them with a smile on her face.

"Wednesday, what are you doing here at a time like this?" asked Lydia, walking over towards the other girl. 

"Just decided to take a walk. Clear my mind. Those camp counselors never heard me leave the campsite," said Wednesday, grabbing a stick and using a rock to sharpen it into a sort-of weapon. "What are you doing out here at a time like this? Won't your family get worried about you being out here?"

"Nah, Adam and Barbara totally let me explore the woods in the middle of the night with Betelgeuse. My dad and Delia said that it was okay as well," Lydia lied. Betelgeuse nudged her in the shoulder and Lydia sent a hard glare in his direction, causing him to shrink back a little. 

"Wanna spend some time together for a while?" Wednesday asked, sounding a bit more hopeful than her usual deadpan self. "I'd love to get to know you better considering I barely know about you." 

"Sure, why not." Lydia shrugged, letting Wednesday lead her over towards the campsite with Betelgeuse floating along behind the two of them. 

____________________

"And then, Betelgeuse tried to green card marry me!" Lydia let out a chuckle, followed by a similar one from Wednesday and a groan from Betelgeuse. "It ended with me having to stab him to death and then his mom showed up and tried to drag me back into the Netherworld for breaking a single rule." 

"That must've been tough," replied Wednesday. "Traumatic even."

"Tough? Yes. Traumatic? Definitely. After Betelgeuse left, my family and I helped each other overcome the trauma that occurred over that single week. Of course, it didn't help when he returned. My family tried to attack him." 

"Ouch!" remarked Wednesday. Lydia nodded. "And all of that occurred over the last two years?"

Another nod from Lydia. 

"Things got better though," said Lydia after about a few minutes. “He became a trusted member of my family even if he still causes trouble for the rest of us.” 

“Hey!” Betelgeuse said, glancing in Lydia’s direction. “No I don’t!”

“Uh huh,” said Lydia with an eyebrow raised. “Around four hours ago, you hid in the treetops and didn’t come down until Wednesday and I met for the first time and just now, you decided to make yourself invisible to me so I couldn’t find you. That’s causing trouble.”

“No, that’s just me messing with you,” Betelgeuse replied. “Way different from me causing trouble for the rest of the family.”

“Can you tell me more about your family?” Wednesday asked, cutting short Lydia and Betelgeuse’s brief argument. “I would like to meet them soon.”

“Sure...” Lydia said, turning her attention back over towards Wednesday. “Adam and Barbara are the sweetest ghosts I’ve ever met...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in this chapter, I had a little writer’s block with it. 
> 
> And a little fun fact relating to this story: Lydia is seventeen in this fanfiction and I aged Wednesday up to about fifteen/sixteen. And it takes place after the events of my other story "Piece by Piece", which I'll update soon (it's nearly over, just a few more chapters to go).


	5. Parental Guidance

When Lydia returned home early the next morning, followed by Betelgeuse, who was floating behind her, extremely tired, she knew her family would be waiting for her and demanding to know what had happened to her the previous night. She expected them to be worried, angry even. Pushing open the door, Lydia braced herself for her family's reactions. 

She took a deep breath and made her way over towards the kitchen when the sweet smell of pancakes drifted out into the main area of the house. She could hear her family talking in worried and hushed voices, and, from the sound of it, her name was brought up constantly throughout the conversation. She heard her dad slam his hands down super hard on the table and flinched. 

'Adam and Barbara must be talking to my dad and Delia about last night,' the teen thought quietly to herself, careful not to let her family know of her return quite yet. She waited until the moment the conversation died down and changed to something else before choosing to enter the kitchen and have her breakfast.

"Dad? Delia? Adam? Barbara?" she spoke quietly, her voice a little meek. 

Four heads whipped around in her general direction and she was immediately bombarded by worried statements and questions from the lot of them.

"Lydia, are you okay?" asked Adam. 

"Lydia, what were you doing out in the woods in the middle of the night? You're not hurt, are you?" asked Delia. 

"Lydia, what were you thinking leaving the house in the middle of the night!" demanded her father, his voice a mix of seriousness and worry. Lydia flinched.

"Lydia, why did you and Betelgeuse leave the house last night after Adam and I told you otherwise?" questioned Barbara, wrapping her arms around the teenager and holding her close with the rest of the family joining in soon after. 

They pulled away a few minutes later, allowing the teenager some room to breath and explain to them what happened. The teenager sat herself down at the kitchen table and her family joined her not too long after, a plate of freshly made pancakes levitating down in front of the teen for her to eat whilst she explained everything that had happened the previous night. 

She took a few small bites of the uppermost pancake on her plate and looked up at her family, noting that they looked even more worried than they had been not even ten minutes ago. She swallowed then took a breath. “What?”

“Lyd, you’re eating very slowly today,” Barbara commented out of concern for the teenage girl, knowing she usually finished her pancakes within five to ten minutes of getting them. “Is something the matter, sweetie?” 

“No.” Lydia finished up the first of her pancakes and put the other two away in the fridge to be heated up and eaten later on in the day before returning to the kitchen table and sitting down. Barbara summoned a steaming hot cup of tea for the teenager and she sipped at it slowly as she thought up the right words to say. “Wednesday wants to meet you all soon, if that’s okay with you guys?” 

The four adults glanced at each other, talking amongst themselves and nodding ever so constantly. When it seemed they had come to an agreement, they turned their attention back over towards Lydia. 

Her dad spoke up first, “we can arrange something within the next week. If that’s okay with you. When’d you first meet her?”

“Last night. During my eight o’clock walk in the woods. Did you know there was a summer camp at the other side of the woods? She’s currently there.”

He nodded, making Lydia a little confused. “Indeed. I was considering sending you there to get to know people around your age but Adam and Barbara confided in me, said that wasn’t necessary since you seemed happier hanging around them.”

“Dad!” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. He didn’t seem to catch it and Lydia finished up the last of her tea, putting her empty cup in the sink and moving to head upstairs for a while. “Gonna head upstairs for now! Call me down when it’s lunchtime!”

Her family nodded in unison and she started up the stairs.

———————————————-

She lay on her stomach on her bed, scrolling through her phone when a few gentle knocks on her bedroom door distracted her. She looked up and called out, “who is it?!” 

“Barbara! Can I come in?” 

“Sure!” Lydia shouted back, putting her phone face down on her bedside table and sitting upright to allow the female ghost some room. Barbara phased through Lydia’s bedroom door and floated over to her bed, sitting herself down next to Lydia in the empty space the teen girl had left her. “What did you want to talk about, Barb?”

“Your dad, Delia, Adam, and I had a small conversation and have come to the agreement to invite Wednesday over to meet us in a few days. If that’s okay with you?” 

Lydia nodded. “Of course that’s okay with me. I’ll quickly text her and let her know.”

Barbara nodded as well, getting up and heading over towards Lydia’s bedroom door to head back downstairs. But not before she turned and eyed Lydia’s outfit. “Do you need that washed? It looks a little dirty.”

Lydia looked down at her outfit, realizing just how muddy it had become from her wearing it all last night. “Yeah, I guess it does.”


	6. Over for Dinner

Surprisingly, Wednesday had agreed to this, deciding to come over after summer camp was over (Lydia was surprised to learn, through text, that Wednesday lived not too far from the summer camp). And the day Wednesday was scheduled to come over, a week and a half after she and Lydia met for the first time, found the Maitland-Deetzes preparing. Barbara stood with Delia in the kitchen, the two women chatting away as they prepared a big dinner for that night. 

Originally, Barbara and Adam wanted to spend the entirety of the dinner up in the attic (Lydia had a feeling this was because they weren't sure whether Wednesday would be able to see them or not, assuring them that since Wednesday could see Betelgeuse, she might be able to see them as well. That was enough to convince the two ghosts to join the rest of the family for dinner). Betelgeuse, on the other hand, chose to spend some time in the Netherworld over joining the family for dinner (he'd said something about an emergency). 

Barbara levitated all the vegetables into the bowls waiting on the counter and levitated them over to the dining table. Adam telekinetically opened the silverware drawer and teleported knives, forks, and spoons for the Deetzes and Wednesday onto the table. Then came the drinks, which Barbara summoned and levitated onto the table. Going back to helping Delia out with the rest of the dinner, Barbara turned the stove and the oven off but kept all the food hot with a wave of her hand. 

Delia turned to Barbara and rested a hand on her back. "Thanks for the help, Barb." 

The female ghost nodded, humming in response and snapping her fingers to keep the oven from catching fire the moment a puff of smoke emerged from it. "Phew!" 

Lydia came bounding down the stairs, dressed in a fancier version of the black dress she usually wore. Lydia wanted everyone to wear black, which, although the rest of the family was unsure if that was a good idea, they eventually agreed to after a thorough conversation with the teenager. Barbara materialized a bouncy, plain off-black dress on her body and Adam his fanciest black suit. Charles wore something similar to Adam and Delia got out a lacy black dress that was similar to Barbara's. 

"Lydia?" asked an overly ecstatic Barbara, turning to face the teenager. "When'd you say Wednesday was getting here?"

The teen pulled out her phone, opened up the message app, and clicked on Wednesday's picture, reading the text she'd sent her not too long ago. "In a few. Probably three to five minutes from now."

Barbara nodded and turned to help Delia serve the food, snapping her fingers to keep it hot again after Delia said it had since gotten cold. 'Ten more minutes should do it,' she thought to herself as she levitated the four plates over to the dining table and set them down in their respective places. The living would get whatever vegetables they wanted after Wednesday arrived and they were all sat down at the table. 

The doorbell rang and Lydia stood, going to bring Wednesday in. Adam teleported into the kitchen and Charles joined them not too long after. Lydia returned to the kitchen area with Wednesday in tow, though Wednesday was slower paced than Lydia. By the time she had gotten to the dining room, Lydia and her family were all already sat at the table.

"You must be Wednesday," Barbara said in a chipper tone, directing the attention of the rest of the adults as Wednesday took the last remaining seat (which just happened to be across from where Lydia was sitting and also right next to the Maitlands). "Lydia has been talking about you all week!"

"Barb!" Lydia said in a sarcastic tone of voice, rolling her eyes playfully. 

Wednesday nodded, taking a bite of her food.

Noticing the energy of the room had gone down quite a bit, but unsure if it was because of the Maitlands or the fact that the rest of the family and Wednesday had become unusually silent, Delia clapped her hands in hopes of starting up conversation again. "How'd you meet again?" 

Wednesday focused her attention onto Lydia then looked at Delia. "In the forest."

"If you recall, I explained everything a couple days after, stepmother." Lydia said the last word looking a little sheepish. "You all already know the story."

Delia nodded, then turned her attention over towards Wednesday. "So, what do you like to do?" 

"Lots of torture, that's what. It's mostly for fun. Especially when I do it to my brother. It's mostly harmlessly electrocuting him for fun."

Lydia looked around at her family. "When Bj returns from the Netherworld, can I allow him to do what Wednesday does to Pugsley?"

"Pugsley?" 

"Her brother," clarified Lydia with a nod from Wednesday. "So, can I?" 

"Absolutely not, young lady," her father and Barbara scolded in unison. Lydia folded her arms in annoyance and huffed. 

She may have been upset about all of that, but that didn't stop her from quietly mouthing to Wednesday to bring her brother the next time she came over so they could do it in secret with some help from Betelgeuse (if he happened to be back by then). 

“So anyway,” Delia decided to speak up again, wanting to change the subject. “You two sure you’re more than friends?”

“Delia!” said Lydia in an annoyed tone of voice. Wednesday remained deadpan, turning her attention over towards the energetic life coach. 

After dinner, Lydia led Wednesday up to her room and the two girls sat together on Lydia’s bed. It was a quarter past seven in the evening and Lydia wanted to have a sort of all-nighter with Wednesday. Lydia’s family was against the idea at first. But, with a little bit of discussion between the five of them, they said that they would allow the two girls to stay up late as opposed to all night. Lydia and Wednesday seemed fine with that. 

“What should we do first?” Wednesday asked. “Go outside for a bit?” 

Lydia seemed to hesitate, knowing she got in trouble the last time. “Uh... that sounds like a great idea, but I’d rather not do it at midnight.”

“C’mon. Don’t you usually go on walks at around eight in the evening? Isn’t that how we first met? You and your demon friend just happening to be taking a walk through the woods?”

“Right. I’ll go ask my family if that’s okay,” replied Lydia, standing up and going to head downstairs. “It’ll probably take me a few minutes.” 

Wednesday nodded a few times in response, laying down on her back and looking up towards the ceiling of Lydia’s bedroom as Lydia exited the room and made her way downstairs.


	7. So, Can Wednesday and I go on a Stroll?

“Dad! Delia! Adam! Barbara!” Lydia shouted out as she jumped down the last two steps and bounded into the living room at full speed. She stopped a few feet away from the living room and slowly walked in. Her family had ceased their conversation and turned their attention onto the teen, wondering what she wanted. 

“Lydia, sweetie?” questioned Barbara, noticing the teen looking off to the side as if she was unsure if she should talk to her about this. After all, she hadn’t gone on an evening stroll since sneaking out in the middle of the night with Betelgeuse. 

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, shaking her head a few times. “Can we talk?”

“Sure, sweetheart. What about?” her dad asked.

“I just realized that I haven’t been on a stroll to clear my mind for a while. I was wondering if maybe Wednesday and I could go on one together. Get to know each other a little more.” 

“Hmmm.... I don't know, Lydia...." her dad said, scratching his beard with his hand as he glanced around the living room at the rest of the adults, all of whom sported expressions similar to the one he had on their faces. "We don't want you going out on strolls in the evening for now."

"But, dad! This is just a stroll Wednesday and I were planning on taking. We'll be back at the house at quarter after eight to quarter to nine. It's not going to take us long. I promise." 

"We'll talk about it in the morning," Charles said, resting his hand on top of his daughter's shoulder. But Lydia wasn't going to take that as an answer. She forcibly pushed her dad's hand off her shoulder, much to the clear astonishment of the rest of the family, and clenched her fists. Charles had taken a few steps backwards, a sternness overtaking his previously calm expression.

"What if it was like when Beej and I snuck out of the house at midnight?!" the teenager cried (yelled?) out. "Wednesday and I could climb out of my bedroom window, down from the roof of the house, and go on our planned stroll in the woods."

Stern, yet furious looks that meant 'do that a second time and you'll be grounded' crossed all four adults' faces, all of them crossing their arms and raising their eyebrows. 

"Lydia-..." the Maitlands spoke out in unison. 

"Young lady," Delia began. "Like your father said, we'll talk about this in the-!" 

Lydia didn't want to hear the rest of her stepmother's sentence, turning on her heel and running upstairs with tears pouring down her faces. Her family dropped their furious expressions and turned to look at one another with expressions of clear worry plastered on their faces.

"She seemed awfully upset," said Barbara, moving to sit down on the couch. The rest of the adults of the household joined her not too long after. "Maybe we should let her continue going on her evening strolls...." 

Upstairs Lydia forcibly slammed her bedroom door closed, the resulting bang that sounded reverberating around the house and causing Wednesday to look up at the disgruntled Lydia with a look of worry on her face.

"What did your dad, stepmother, Adam, and Barbara say to the two of us going out for a stroll, Lydia?" Wednesday asked out of curiosity, sitting upright and scooting over to allow Lydia some room on her own bed. 

"My dad said we'll talk about it in the morning..." Lydia plopped herself down on her bed and rested her hands under her chin, looking down towards the floor before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. "I got kinda upset about that." 

Wednesday nodded, turning her attention onto the ceiling of Lydia's bedroom. 

"Lyds, can you come downstairs please? Wednesday can too if she wants!" Lydia and Wednesday jumped when Barbara's voice sounded in the former's room. Wednesday glanced at Lydia.

"She and Adam always do that throwing their voice thing to call me down for dinner or if they, my dad, and Delia want to talk to me about something. It's helpful, but surprising whenever they do it. You never know when it's gonna happen." 

Wednesday nodded in understanding as the two girls headed downstairs to see what it was Lydia’s family wanted. 

Getting downstairs, the two girls found Lydia’s family sat together on the couch and looking directly at them. Slowly, Lydia made her way into the living room followed closely behind by Wednesday. 

“Dad, Delia, Adam, Barb, what’d you want to talk about?” Lydia asked, knowing that it had something to do with her and Wednesday’s planned evening stroll.

“Lydia, sit down please,” her father instructed, pointing at a chair that either Adam or Barbara must’ve summoned as it looked brand new. Lydia took a seat and Wednesday leaned herself against the back of the same chair, both girls focusing their attention on Lydia’s family. 

Charles turned to the two female adults of the house, who in turn looked to one another and nodded in unison. Barbara made her way over towards Lydia and sat on the floor in front of her, the rest of the adults joining shortly after.

“Guys, is this about Wednesday and I going on that stroll?” Lydia asked, making use of her mediumship side.


	8. Should We Be... More Than Friends?

The light from the full moon shone down onto the woods, illuminating the trees and falling onto the faces of both goth teenagers as they made their way through the woods, coming to a stop at the very place where they first met and became friends. Wednesday sat herself down on the same rock she had been sitting on when she first caught sight of Lydia looking in her general direction. 

“It was so nice of your family to allow us to go on this stroll together, Lydia,” Wednesday said as Lydia sat herself down on the ground in front of her. 

Lydia had been allowed to take her camera along with her to take some pictures of the moonlit sky if she wanted to. Aiming the lens of her camera up towards the moon and the tree branches framing it, she quickly snapped a few spooky pictures. She would just wait to develop those later and put them in her photo album. But, then again, she could turn one of them in for homework in her photography class if one of the assignments had something to do with Halloween. It did make for a super neat picture after all. 

“Yeah...” Lydia said, snapping a picture of the dark shadowy figure of an owl perched in a high branch of one of the tallest trees in the forest. 

Wednesday seemed to sense Lydia was a little nervous, sliding off of the rock she had been sitting on and making her way over towards the other teen. “Is something wrong?” 

Lydia placed her camera around her neck after deciding that she’d taken enough pictures of the woods and turned her attention towards Wednesday. “No. Not at all. Why ask?” 

“You seem nervous. Like there’s something you want to talk about with me but don’t know if you should or not,” commented Wednesday, as deadpan as she could get. Lydia sat herself down on the exact same rock that Wednesday had been sitting on earlier and looked down towards the ground before turning her attention onto Wednesday. 

“Do you ever wonder what it would be like for us to be... more than friends?” Lydia asked after a few minutes of silence, looking up towards the moonlit sky that still had a little bit of the sunset slipping below the horizon. Lydia made a mental note to photograph the sunset another day. 

“What do you mean?” was Wednesday’s response, looking directly at Lydia.

“Well, Betelgeuse and the Maitlands seem to think I have a crush on you but all I do is brush it off,” said Lydia, sounding a little shy about that. Wednesday noticed that Lydia had started to blush as she said that and felt herself start to blush as well. 

“My family, well, mostly my brother, seems to think that I have a crush on you as well based on how much I talked about you at my house. said Wednesday, remembering just how often Pugsley would bother her about the subject. 

“So... do you think we should be more than friends?” asked Lydia, interlocking her fingers and awaiting an answer from Wednesday. It took a few minutes for Wednesday to give an answer, though, and Lydia didn’t mind. 

“Sure...” said Wednesday in a softer version of her typical deadpan tone of voice. “Wait until we tell our families about this.” 

“It’s getting darker,” said Lydia, glancing up and noticing that the stars of the nighttime sky were shining clearly above them. “And I promised my family that we’d be back at my house before then.” Lydia rested her head on her hands and let out a sigh, worrying she was, yet again, going to get grounded. Especially when the last time she was grounded was no fun whatsoever. “Oh, they’re going to be worried about me. And I’m going to be grounded all over again.”

“They’ll forget all about that when you tell them,” said Wednesday, sitting herself down on the rock next to Lydia and pulling her close to her. “I’m sure that they’ll be more than happy to know.”

Lydia seemed to be a little brighter about that, looking over towards Wednesday and nodding in agreement. 

Taking Lydia’s hand in her own, Wednesday slid off the rock and Lydia followed. “Now, let’s go back to your house. I’m dying to see your family’s reactions.”

They got back to Lydia’s house a little while later than the set time that was originally agreed upon, Lydia opening the front door to find her family standing in the foyer and not looking at all pleased. Lydia gulped, a sheepish look forming on her face. Wednesday, however, stayed deadpan.

“What happened?” Barbara had to ask hurriedly, sounding a little bit too stern and raising an eyebrow. Lydia glanced at Wednesday and let go of her hand. 

“Before you guys all tell me that I’m in trouble,” Lydia said, looking from her dad to Delia to Adam to Barbara and back towards her dad. “Wednesday and I would like to tell you about something.” She looked at Wednesday then turned her attention back over towards her now curious family. “Something important.”

________________

The six of them sat in the kitchen, three steaming hot cups of tea sitting in front of Lydia, her dad, and Delia. Wednesday was initially asked if she wanted a cup of tea as well but turned the offer down. Lydia’s family sat opposite the two teenage girls, all of them becoming even more curious to know what the two girls wanted to talk to them about. 

“Wednesday and I have feelings for one another,” said Lydia as calmly as possible.

At that, four pairs of eyes widened in surprise and astonishment. All four of the adults started talking amongst themselves for a bit then turned their attention back over towards the two girls. 

“That’s great news! And, Lydia, you were in trouble,” Barbara said, her stern voice becoming a bit softer. “But, I think we can let it slide.” She glanced towards the rest of the adults of the Maitland-Deetz family, who nodded in agreement.

“REALLY?!” shouted Lydia, standing up and giving each of the adults a hug. 

“Yes, really,” her dad replied with a smile. “Now, we were planning on watching a movie of some sort together. Wednesday can join us if she wants to.”

Lydia looked at Wednesday, who nodded in agreement.


	9. Horror Stories

Lydia plopped on the couch with Wednesday beside her, two bowls of fresh, buttered popcorn summoned by Barbara sitting on the pristine white coffee table in front of them. At first, all of Lydia's family was against the idea of watching a horror movie (Adam and Barbara wanted to watch something that was both sweet and cheesy, Delia wanted to watch something a bit more... animated, and Charles wanted to watch a documentary of some kind) but Lydia and Wednesday still managed to convince the four of them to watch a horror movie.

"As long as it's not too scary," Barbara had reminded Lydia when the conversation had come to a close. 

Lydia had laughed a little as she and Wednesday exchanged glances, adding, "it probably won't be, but who knows," with a sly smirk plastered on her face. Barbara had rolled her eyes in response to that, letting out a sigh. 

Lydia had gone and chosen the dvd of a horror movie that wasn't as scary but still had a few jump scares here and there, which her family seemed to be okay with. 

Charles put the dvd in and sat down on the other couch in the living room, draping his arm around Delia and pulling her close. Adam and Barbara elected to sit together on the blue-white carpet, Adam telekinetically turning the tv on and starting the movie. 

"I'm curious about something, Adam, Barb," Lydia said, directing the attention of both ghosts onto her. "How did you guys first meet?"

"Lydia, we've told you that story before," replied Barbara with a chuckle, rolling her eyes and looking over towards Lydia, a sly smile on her face. Adam had a similar look on his face, but he also looked like he was trying to hold back a giggle. 

"I know, but Wednesday hasn't heard it yet. I'm sure she'd like to hear it." Lydia turned her attention over to Wednesday. "Right?" 

"Actually, I want to know how Adam and Barbara died," Wednesday said after a few short minutes of silence, looking over towards the Maitlands. Adam and Barbara looked at each other then looked back at Wednesday.

“You... want us to go into full detail on our deaths?” Adam asked, sounding confused.

“Yes.” 

“We just jumped towards each other and ended up falling through the floorboards here,” said Barbara, sounding as equally as confused as Adam was about this as she gestured an ice cold hand over towards the entrance to the living room. “That’s about it, really.” 

All Wednesday seemed to do was nod in response.

“One of the first things that Delia and I did for the Maitlands a couple years back was have the old broken floorboards removed and replaced with this here carpet,” said Charles, also gesturing a hand out towards the now carpeted living room. “We also had the bloodstains that were left behind from their deaths cleaned. Though we were told that the cleaner could not clear up all of the blood and we just covered the remaining stains with rugs.”

“Which we’re thankful for,” replied Adam, he and Barbara turning their heads and glancing at Charles and Delia with smiles on their faces. 

Wednesday nodded and turned her attention back over towards Lydia, who seemed to be keeping herself from giggling. Lydia stopped, and the six of them turned their attention back over towards the movie, which seemed to be reaching its climax, as Betelgeuse teleported into the center of the living room and glanced down towards them. 

“You guys watching a movie?” Betelgeuse floated down towards the ground and sat himself down right beside Adam. “Can I watch?” 

“As long as you do it quietly,” Adam replied, looking at Betelgeuse with a stern expression on his face. “And no flirting right now.” 

He pushed Betelgeuse away from him as the demon made playful kissy faces at him. 

“Sexy, you’re no fun,” Betelgeuse grumbled as he slumped down and focused his attention on the movie, crossing his arms.

“Beej?” Lydia sounded confused, directing the demon’s attention over towards both her and Wednesday. “Why did you teleport into the middle of the living room and, say, not through a door to the Netherworld?”

“Oh, I came in through a door to the Netherworld upstairs but none of you seemed to be upstairs at the moment so that’s when I teleported downstairs. By the way.” Betelgeuse glanced between Lydia and Wednesday. “What’s going on with you two?” 

“Wednesday and I are now girlfriends, Bj,” was Lydia’s response, deciding now was the time to tell him.


	10. New Year, New School, New Friends

The rest of the summer went by in a breeze, and soon it was time for the first day of what was to be Lydia's final year of school. The whole entire household was in a bit of a frenzy that morning, Barbara packing Lydia's lunch, Adam packing Lydia's backpack, and Charles and Delia making sure the teenager had everything that she needed to go to school that morning. 

"You sure you're sure you have everything?" Adam asked in what appeared to be a sort of joking tone of voice as he and Barbara moved to stand over near Charles and Delia by the front door to the house. Betelgeuse had had something of utmost importance to do in the Netherworld at the moment, so he wouldn't be back for at least a few more days. "This is the first day of your senior year of high school after all."

"I'm sure I have everything I need, Adam," said Lydia with a slight laugh. She picked up and slung her backpack over her shoulder, turning to leave the house to get in her car and go to school as her family watched on. The familiar sounds of her car starting up and pulling out of the driveway were heard and her family went to do whatever.

Lydia pulled her car into her chosen parking spot, with an intricate design of clear ghosts and skulls painted onto a black background. Getting out and starting on her way into the school for the day, she was immediately surprised the moment she saw Wednesday get out of what seemed to be either her mother’s or her father’s car. She looked up, also looking in Lydia’s direction as a smile (although it was more of a deadpan smile) crossed her face. She slowly shut the back door of the car and made her way over towards Lydia at the same time Lydia was making her way over towards her. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here,” Lydia said as she let out a quiet laugh. “Honestly, you struck me as someone who was homeschooled.” 

Wednesday arched an eyebrow. “I was homeschooled by my parents for a while. This is actually my first year at a public school.” 

“Right.” 

Lydia and Wednesday turned their attention over towards the two-story high school as the bell rang, then walked in together. Lydia excused herself to meet up with her friends Trista Luna and Caterina whilst Wednesday stood a few hundred feet away and watched with a look of intrigue and/or curiosity on her face. Trista Luna confusedly peered around Lydia and glanced over in Wednesday’s direction.

“Who’s that?” she whispered to Lydia, noticing Wednesday pull out a bottle of poison. “Is she new here?” 

Lydia turned to look at Wednesday, urging her over to her and her friends. Wednesday put the bottle of poison away and kept a straight face as she slowly made her way over towards the three of them. “That’s Wednesday,” explained Lydia as Wednesday came to a stop not too far from them. “I met her at the beginning of summer vacation whilst she was at summer camp and now she’s my girlfriend.” 

“You’ve only known her for at least three months and you’re already dating her?” questions Caterina out of confusion. She glanced from Trista Luna to Lydia and then over towards Wednesday, who was now leaning with her back against a set of black and white school lockers and looking at them with one eyebrow raised. 

Lydia nodded, then asked, “is that wrong?” 

“No no, not at all,” laughed Caterina, shaking her head. The four of them compared their schedules and since Wednesday had no classes with them, they promised they’d meet up with her for lunch. 

Which is what they did. Lydia, Caterina, and Trista Luna entered the cafeteria at a quarter after twelve and immediately spotted Wednesday sitting by herself at a table, slowly eating her lunch. The three of them sat themselves down at the circular table and Wednesday looked up with the exact same deadpan smile from earlier. 

“You made any friends besides us?” Lydia asked, wanting to strike up conversation with her girlfriend. 

“Other than you guys, no. Not really. Everyone is avoiding me because they think I’m a bit of a freak.” 

“You’re not a freak to us though,” said Caterina, turning her attention to Wednesday. “We didn’t think the same of Lydia back when we met her last school year.” 

“And then there’s my family....” Wednesday said. “They took to Lydia almost immediately when I first introduced her to them. My parents said it might have had something to do with her being as macabre and strange as they, my brother, and I were and that they were super supportive of me having a girlfriend who, like me, was interested in things that were strange and unusual.” 

Lunchtime was coming to a close and the four friends/two gothic girlfriends were finishing up their lunches and their conversation. 

“You guys want to come over to my house at some point this weekend?” asked Trista Luna as she looked around the table at the rest of the girls. “My parents will be out of town for the weekend, and they said you could come over if you wanted to.”

Caterina seemed to agree. “I’ll ask my parents when I get home from school.” 

Lydia nodded. “Same. Hopefully Adam and Barbara will let me. And Delia will just nonstop talk about how I’m socializing with people around my age... like she does every! Single! Time I go out somewhere...” 

“What about your dad?” asked Trista Luna, looking in Lydia’s direction. 

“I’m sure he’ll be okay with it as well,” Lydia said as she zipped up her lunch bag and stood up with the rest of the group following suit. 

“Wednesday, what about you? You want to come as well.” 

“I’ll speak to my parents about it when I get home from school as well,” was Wednesday’s reply as the bell rang and the four of them exited the cafeteria to go to their next classes of the day.


	11. Popcorn War

The rest of the week flew by in a flash, and sooner or later it was Saturday; the particular day that Trista Luna had decided would be the day the four girls would hang out together at her house. 

At Lydia's house, her family was rushing around and making sure that Lydia had everything that she needed; much like they had done earlier that week. Lydia's backpack sat upon the kitchen island, completely overfilled with stuff *some of which Lydia was sure she didn't even need to take with her*. 

Lydia pulled one of the more unhelpful things that Adam had put in her backpack, looking it over and glancing confusedly at Adam. "You sure I need this?" 

Adam nodded, then went back to what he was doing. 

"It's a dictionary," snarked Lydia, looking unimpressed. "Why on earth would I need to take a dictionary with me? All I'm doing is hanging out with friends." 

"You never know when that could come in handy," replied Adam. Lydia groaned and rolled her eyes in annoyance, then pulled yet another one of the unhelpful items right out of her backpack. 

"A wrench?" Lydia held the aforementioned tool out towards Adam before placing it down on the counter. "Why do I need this? And this magnifying glass?" Adam didn't respond rather immediately and Lydia suddenly remembered that there was some sort of spooky looking forest directly behind Trista Luna's house, putting the dictionary and the magnifying glass back into her backpack. 

"I thought you said you had no use for those?" Adam asked as he turned his attention over towards Lydia, who was in the middle of zipping up her backpack. 

"Yeah, well... I just remembered that Trista Luna lives in a house over near a forest. I'm gonna need the magnifying glass you put in my backpack to look at any sort of insect species that might inhabit that forest." 

“And the dictionary?” 

“That would be for looking up the bugs once I find them.”

“I think you need an encyclopedia for that.” Adam snapped his fingers and the dictionary Lydia had initially put in her backpack turned itself into an encyclopedia.

“Thanks, Adam.” 

Adam nodded just as Charles and Delia entered the room followed by Barbara. When had they been gone? 

"You ready to go, pumpkin?" her dad asked. Lydia slung her backpack over her shoulder and left the house with her dad and Delia, calling out goodbyes to the Maitlands. 

The drive to Trista Luna's house wasn't actually that long and, upon arrival, Lydia met up with Cat and Wednesday, the three of them heading inside as their parents pulled away from the house. Trista Luna's house was exactly as Lydia and Cat had remembered it the last few times they were there. And as they were headed into the kitchen for some snacks, the three of them turned and found Wednesday looking around.

"C'mon, Des!" Lydia called out to her girlfriend, grabbing Wednesday's attention. 

The goth stopped looking around Trista Luna's house and joined the rest of the girls in the house's kitchen. Trista Luna brought out a bowl of fruit that her parents had left out for the four of them shortly before they left for the weekend. Lydia and Cat grabbed a couple fruits each from the bowl and chortled in unison as they threw them at one another. Trista grabbed a couple fruits as well, throwing one of them in Lydia's direction and the other in Caterina's direction. Wednesday had grabbed one of the four remaining fruits, an apple, and looked it over before taking a bite out of it.

A little while later, the four girls sat in the living room with some sort of cheesy horror movie playing on the television set in front of them. Lydia and Wednesday shared a large bowl of popcorn between the two of them and Cat and Trista Luna each had their own bowl of popcorn. Though they were occasionally throwing the popcorn at one another and chuckling in unison. 

A piece of the popcorn was suddenly launched in Lydia’s direction, landing in her hair and causing her to laugh amusingly. She picked it out of her hair and threw it to the carpeted floor of the living room. 

“Okay, which of you threw that?” ask-teased Lydia with a sly smile plastered on her face. She grabbed a piece of popcorn from her and Wednesday’s bowl, holding it in midair. 

Caterina and Trista Luna quickly pointed towards one another. “It wasn’t me! It was her! She did it! Hey! Stop copying me!” 

Her sly smile becoming a smirk, Lydia suddenly grabbed a second piece of popcorn from the bowl that sat on the couch in between her and Wednesday, chucking the piece that she had been holding the longest at Trista Luna and the one she just grabbed at Caterina. And then the three of them got involved in some sort of popcorn war that eventually evolved into a pillow fight (in which Wednesday eventually decided to join in on once Trista Luna catapulted a pillow in her general direction). 

The movie had since ended, and all four of the girls were tired out from their popcorn-pillow fight. A mess of popcorn and pillows littered the floor, for which Trista Luna made a mental note to clean up before her parents got home. 

“Can anyone think of anything else to do?” Trista Luna asked, now laying on her back on the ottoman. 

“What about a walk through the forest behind this house? I kinda want to photograph some of the insects and other animals.”


	12. With You Every Step of the Way

"Hmmm... I don't know, Lydia," Trista Luna said, sounding a little unsure. "My parents said I wasn't allowed to take walks through the woods behind my house. Won't tell me why. I asked them a dozen of times." 

"But your parents aren't here right now, are they?" Lydia reminded her, arching an eyebrow and shooting her friend a sly smirk. 

"Well...." 

It took Trista a few minutes to consider then she finally agreed, the four girls standing up and exiting through the back door of Trista's house. Above them, the sky was already turning pink and orange and the sun was already starting to set. Lydia quickly whipped her camera out and snapped a few pictures of the sky. Putting her camera away, she continued on with walking, following after Wednesday. 

Eventually, she caught up to her girlfriend, her pace slowing down a little to match that of hers. 

"You thinking about something?" Lydia asked, noting that Wednesday looked to be deep in thought. Wednesday shook her head as she looked at Lydia, whose curiosity faded as she focused her attention ahead of her; Wednesday doing the same.

An owl left its perch on a low branch in a small tree, flying over the heads of all four girls as it settled itself down on a higher branch in a much taller tree. The sounds of wolves howling were heard from deep within the woods, but not too close luckily. Trista Luna and Cat were already starting to get scared, huddling together as they continued on with their walking and following behind Lydia and Wednesday. A bat passed overhead, Trista and Cat becoming less scared as they and Wednesday stopped so that Lydia could snap a few quick pictures of the animal. 

By now, the sky had become completely orange and pink. And the moon had since risen up into the sky, adding a little bit of purple, navy blue, and black to the mix. Lydia aimed her camera up towards it and snapped a few more pictures. 

“That should do it,” she commented, again putting her camera away.

“I thought you said you wanted to do this to photograph insects?” Trista Luna said, sounding a little confused. 

Sighing and turning her attention ahead of her again, Lydia said, “nah. It’s getting dark as it is. I’ll likely do it some other time in the future.” 

Trista Luna nodded in understanding as the four girls continued on, eventually stopping at the other end of the woods and focusing their eyes on the sky above them, taking in the sunset. 

"I'm with you every step of the way," Lydia mouthed to Wednesday as she rested an arm around her and held her close to her, they, Trista Luna, and Cat stood together and watched the orangey-pinkish sky as the sun completely dipped below the horizon. "And nothing's ever going to change that." 

"Nothing's ever going to change that," Wednesday repeated, her voice a whisper. 

They couldn’t wait to see what the future held for them. As long as they stayed together the whole way through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is both the last and the epilogue. Should be released at some point within the next few days, so keep an eye out for it.


	13. Epilogue: Years Later

So many years later and everything was just the same. But also much different. 

Now in their mid and early thirties, Lydia and Wednesday made their way up to Lydia's childhood home, their three adopted daughters and one adopted son in tow: Merle, aged eight, Crimson, aged seven, Lennon, aged three, and Daemon, who was at the age where he had not quite said his first words yet but could at any given moment. Wednesday bent down and picked up Daemon as Lydia rung the doorbell. Behind the door, they could hear the sounds of Barbara and Adam talking as they made their way over to it. The door opened to reveal Barbara standing there with a smile on her face. 

"Lydia! It's been so long since we last saw you!" she said excitedly in her usual chipper tone of voice, pulling Lydia, who also wrapped her arms around the female ghost in a hug. "How are things?" 

"Going great. I couldn't believe how busy I've been with doing all those photo shoots and medium sessions. It kept me and Wednesday and our children away for longer than I expected it would. We would've visited sooner, but uh... things happened." 

She and Lydia pulled out of the hug a few seconds later. Quickly, she called Adam over as she led Lydia, Wednesday, and their children inside. 

Fifteen minutes later and the eight of them were sat in the living room, chatting away happily about life and afterlife. Merle and Crimson were sat in between Adam and Barbara, Lydia had Lennon sat in her lap, and Wednesday was holding Daemon. Barbara's hands laced through Merle's long blackish-blonde hair as she braided it, as Merle herself had since grown tired of it being constantly in her eyes. Crimson had her curious eyes focused directly on Adam. 

"Are you only just visiting? Or are you..." 

"My dad left us the house so that we could move back in when he and Delia both retired and moved out, remember?" pointed out Lydia. 

"Oh... well, we're glad that you're here to stay," said Barbara, her and Adam wiping away ghostly tears. "It's been rather lonely for the two of us with you being gone and your dad and Delia moved out." 

"You still had Betelgeuse to keep you company though, right?" Adam and Barbara nodded. 

In the end, they just sat there chatting for hours; only taking a break mid conversation when Daemon got hungry and cried (while also saying his first word; which of course happened to be ghosts, making the rest of the family chuckle).

After all they had a lot more to look forward to in the near future, as a now found family of eight. And they couldn't wait to see what life and afterlife threw at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, that's it! I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Comment below if you want me to write a sequel or a series of one shots centered around the lives of Lydia and Wednesday's four adopted children. Cause I have the feeling I should expand upon this.


End file.
